Smoking levels among current adolescent smokers and characteristics associated with readiness to quit smoking

The Public Health Service Guidelines for adolescent smoking cessation indicate the effectiveness of counseling interventions to promote smoking cessation in adolescents; however, a better understanding of adolescent smoking patterns is required to tailor and guide effective cessation and treatment efforts for this population, who tend to smoke at low frequencies, low amounts, and in social settings. Using the 2009 National Youth Tobacco Survey, we examined smoking frequency and correlates of readiness to quit among middle school and high school current smokers (N = 2004). Readiness to quit was defined as intending to quit in the next 30 days. Additional correlates examined included self-reported smoking level, sociodemographic variables, and specific smoking-related characteristics. Overall, 34.7% smoked 1-5 days in the past 30 days, 38.1% smoked 6-29 days in the past 30 days, and 27.2% were daily smokers. Bivariate analyses identified the following variables which were significantly associated (p < 0.05) with readiness to quit: lower level of smoking, fewer friends who smoke, smoked less than 100 cigarettes in lifetime, current cigar use, quit attempt in the past 12 months, and lower exposure to pro-tobacco media. Multivariate analyses are in progress. These preliminary results suggest a need to better understand adolescent smoking patterns as it relates to promoting adolescent smoking cessation. The results also have implications for identifying interventions and policies that may be most effective in helping adolescents quit smoking, as well as addressing the issue of other tobacco use among current adolescent smokers.